Leave The Past, Embrace The Future
by GoldGuardian2418
Summary: When Rachel finds out a bit of the past that the others won't tell her about, she and Jamie go to find the answers and learn that sometimes the past is best left alone.
1. Searching For Answers

**This is just a story idea I came up with.**

 **Disclaimers: Skylanders Trap Team belongs to Activision, Jamie belongs to pokemonsora01 who gave me permission to use him, and I only own Rachel, Claudia, and Joseph.**

* * *

 **Leave The Past, Embrace The Future**

 **Chapter 1: Searching For Answers**

Rachel looked at her uncle again. "Who is Claudia?" she asked. "Why does her name pop up in this old box I found with pictures of her, me, and Dad? Was Dad married to her before he met my mom?"

Joseph sighed. "Rachel, I can't tell you," he said gently. He had been telling her that over the past hour, but she wasn't giving up. "Claudia is someone you don't have to know about."

"Yes, I do!" said Rachel. "If she's a part of my past, I have to know. Why were these hidden in the attic?"

Joseph shook his head and gently placed his hands on his niece's shoulders. "Honey-girl, this is one thing best left alone," he said, his voice still gentle. "I don't want to see you hurt."

"I won't get hurt," she said. "Why won't you tell me?"

He walked away. "Rachel, please don't bother with it," he said. "I should have burned that box a long time ago."

Upset that the man who had raised her since her father had died, Rachel ran upstairs to her room, holding one picture in her hand and quickly plugging in her Traptanium Portal, which formed a portal to Skylands for her. She leapt through it and landed on her feet and rolled to her left, knowing she had landed in the Main Hall of the Skylanders Academy from the Chompy Statues she saw. She then sat up.

"Whoa, Rach," said a familiar voice and she saw Bag O' Bones kneeling down by her and he gently grabbed her arm to help her up. "You okay?"

She nodded and he led her to the game room where the other Skaletones along with Head Rush and Krypt King were playing Skystones Smash, a favorite game in Skylands. Krypt King stood up. "Rachel? What's wrong?" he asked.

She looked at them all. "Do any of you know about Claudia?" she asked and showed them the picture.

Everyone froze as if hit by Chill Bill's freeze ray and Master Eon appeared, seeing the picture and looking startled. "Rachel, where did you find this?" he asked.

"I was in the attic at my house and found a box full of pictures and such," she said. "The back of it says it's my dad, Claudia, and me when I was little."

The others looked at each other. "We haven't heard of her," said Ribz, but Rachel knew he was lying and knew that her partners were lying too when they told her they didn't know. She looked at Master Eon. "What do you know about Claudia?" she asked.

He gently shook his head. "That knowledge is best left alone," he said gently. "You shouldn't have found out about it."

She knew he meant that in a concerned, father-like way, but she was too upset to take that advice. "Then I'll find out on my own," she said, her face hardening as tears were filling her eyes and she stormed away. Cali came in to see Rachel heading for the main door.

"Rachel, where are you going?" she asked.

"To find out about Claudia, since no one will tell me who she was," answered the girl.

Jamie and Enigma came in and the mysterious trapper froze. "Rachel, don't," he said.

"What's going on?" asked Jamie.

Cali stepped in front of Rachel. "Don't do this, Rachel," she said. "Just leave it."

Rachel turned to her. "I don't understand why everyone is such a coward and refuses to tell me about her," she said sharply. "And I know you all know, but you're lying about it."

"Rachel, it's not that," said Krypt King.

"Then who is Claudia?"

The Undead Trapper looked at her and then looked away. That made Rachel even more upset and she stormed away. Jamie quickly followed her. "Rach? Where are you going?" he asked when he caught up to her.

"I'm going to find Flynn," she said. "I'm going to ask him to take me to Know-It-All Island. The Knuckleheads know all the history of Skylands. I'm pretty sure they can tell me about Claudia."

"Can I come with you?" he asked.

She looked at him and shook her head. "I need you here," she said.

"No way," he said. "I'm coming."

She saw he wasn't going to change his mind. "Okay, but we can't tell Flynn and we can't tell our partners where we're going," she said.

Jamie nodded and they found Flint. "Hey, Flynn!" the boy called out.

"Well, hi, Portal Masters!" said the captain cheerfully. "What's going on?"

Rachel smiled. "Flynn, can you take Jamie and I to Know-It-All Island?" she asked.

"Well sure," he said. "Villains to chase?"

"Uh, no," the girl said and didn't know what to tell him.

"It's a cool place," said Jamie. "And riding the steam jets to the higher grounds is awesome!"

"BOOM! You got that right!" said Flynn. "Just let me get to the controls. Your partners coming?"

Rachel shook her head. "No, it's just us," she said. "Some brother-sister time."

"Ah," he said in understanding and started up his ship, taking off. The cousins looked at each other.

"I hope Enigma won't be too mad he's not coming," said Jamie.

"I'll smooth things over," Rachel promised. "Since you're keeping this secret."

And she had to find out about Claudia and the Knuckleheads were reliable with information.

She'd soon find out.

* * *

 **What will the Knuckleheads say? Read on!**

 **GoldGuardian2418**


	2. What the Knuckleheads Said

**A/N: According to the Skylanders Trap Team Game Guide, the four stoneheads on Know-It-All Island are called Knuckleheads. Just thought you'd all like to know. :)**

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 **Chapter 2: What The Knuckleheads Said**

Flynn landed his ship and Rachel and Jamie jumped off. "Thanks, Flynn," said Rachel. "We'll be back in a bit."

"No problem-o," he said. "I'll be here, although I may take a look around. This place is pretty sweet, in a calm sort of way."

The cousins laughed lightly and quickly got the nearby gate opened and took off, finding the first Knucklehead rather quickly. "Hello, Portal Masters," he said. "There are no villains that have escaped prison yet."

"Yes, Knucklehead," said Rachel.

"We're here about something else," Jamie said. "You guys know all the history of Skylands, right?"

The Knucklehead smiled. "All the way back to when Master Eon became the guardian of Skylands," he said. "What do you want to know?"

Rachel took a deep breath. "Who is Claudia?" she asked.

The Knucklehead was quiet for a minute before looking at them and clearing his throat. "I tell you about Claudia," he said. "Claudia was strong in mind, to friends she was kind, until one day she came back, and both did she lack."

The Knucklehead then went to sleep, leaving the cousins to look at each other with confusion. "Both did she lack," said Jamie. "What does that mean?"

"Strong in mind and kind to her friends," said Rachel. "She stopped being kind one day?"

They looked at each other and Jamie shrugged. "I think we need a bit more information," he said. "Let's find the next one."

They did so and listened to the next Knucklehead. "Two lives she did live, and her vow did she give, but something bad she hid within, a battle where she would not win," he said to them.

Jamie had pulled out a notebook from his backpack and wrote down what the Knucklehead had told them and what the first one had said.

"Sounds like they were talking about her life," he said.

"Two lives she did live," said Rachel. "I wonder what other life she had?"

Jamie shrugged. "Maybe it was like us," he said. "We live two lives, our lives on Earth and being Portal Masters."

Rachel looked at Jamie in shock. "Jamie, I think that's it," she said to him. "That's the reason I came to Skylands to ask our friends about Claudia. In one of the other pictures, she had something in her hand. I think it was a Skylander figure."

"Claudia was a Portal Master?" he asked.

"Maybe," said Rachel. "Come on, let's find the third Knucklehead."

They rode the steam jets up to higher ground and found the third Knucklehead sleeping, but he gave a snort of surprise when Rachel gently nudged him and Jamie laughed, which woke up the groggy information keeper who smiled gently before answering their question.

"One day, true colors were shown, and harsher than any wind had blown, in exchange for her friends she gave, she was granted the power she craved."

Leaving the Knucklehead to sleep, Rachel looked over what Jamie had written down. "This sounds like Claudia was a traitor," she said. "But, power she craved? That doesn't make sense."

"We don't really have powers as Portal Masters," said Jamie.

"Wait, we do," said his cousin. "It's Portal Master power. It's not like lightning or fire like our Skylanders have, but we have power to help them, to encourage them on."

"True," said the boy. "But what kind of power did she crave?"

"Maybe the power her partner had?" Rachel guessed. "Who was her partner anyway?"

With a lot of questions now, Jamie led the way to the last Knucklehead, who told them this:

"A traitor sided with Kaos, and to Skylands it was a grave loss, over time the story changed has been, so bonds can be formed again."

Rachel shook her head as she and Jamie headed back to Flint's ship. "Well, that told us Claudia was a traitor, but why would the story be changed over time?" Rachel asked.

"So bonds can be formed again?" said Jamie. "What bonds did that Stonehead mean?"

Rachel shrugged and they were quiet for a bit until Jamie remembered something. "Hey, Mags told me about the old Archives that are under the Academy," he said. "She was looking to invent a device to store all the written history in. She's still working on it, but maybe we can check those books. If the Knuckleheads knew, I bet it was written down too."

Rachel nodded. "Okay," she said. "But our partners can't know we're back yet."

"Mags showed me a secret entrance from the library," said Jamie. "We could use the transport beams."

His cousin nodded. "Let's do it."

* * *

 **Hmm. More mysteries. Read on!**

 **GoldGuardian2418**


	3. Archives And Visit

**Chapter 3: Archives and Visit**

Flynn flew the ship back to the Academy and Rachel and Jamie waited near one of the holes where the cannons went to shoot at enemies and when they were near the transport beams, Rachel jumped down and Jamie followed her. They landed right on the transport pad to the Library and Rachel quickly activated it and they were in the Library faster than they could take a breath. Seeing no one there, Jamie quickly led Rachel to the shelves of books with only ladders and support beams around. "Jamie, are you sure?" she asked.

Jamie nodded and moved a nearby chair and lifted up part of the rug, revealing a panel under there. Rachel opened the panel and pushed the button inside and a set of stairs showed up from the beam near the far bookcases. The cousins looked at each other and Rachel nodded as she put the rug back down and Jamie put the chair back and they climbed the stairs and Jamie pushed another button hidden on the nearest bookcase and a panel opened. Rachel followed him in as the panel closed and they followed the stairs to the lower level and Jamie pulled out a flashlight and his cousin did the same.

"Wow," said Rachel. "Look at these huge books. Did Mags say how many there were?"

"One thousand," said the boy. "And they're all by date. She said it took two books to cover each year."

Rachel pulled out the picture she had and looked at it. "The date is only a few years ago," she said. "So, maybe we look towards the end?"

It didn't take long to find the huge book they needed, but they didn't find what they were looking for. Suddenly, one of the helper bots appeared and landed near the cousins, looking at the picture and seeing the date, it scanned it and then went to a high shelf and pulled out a small book. Rachel and Jamie looked at each other and accepted the book from the helper bot and opened it.

"It's like a journal," said Rachel and then saw who it belonged to. "Claudia," she read on the first page and quickly turned the pages to the entries as Jamie read it over her shoulder.

It didn't take long.

It was entries on how Claudia hated being a Portal Master and desired to have more power. Being a Portal Master was boring to her and she didn't like her Skylander Partner. It was only about ten pages, but every sentence shocked the cousins and Rachel felt her shoulders slump. "That's why," she said softly.

Jamie then saw the flying Helper Bot bring in another book. "Hey, check it out," he said as the robot opened it and they saw it was a bit of a story. "It's about Claudia, only different."

Rachel began reading it. "Years ago, an Earth Skylander, who craved power, betrayed his fellow Skylanders, even his partner. He turned them over to Kaos and was granted that power he wanted, but when he wanted to take over Skylands, he overpowered Kaos. The other Skylanders stepped in to stop him and he beat them back. It was Kaos who destroyed him. As a result, the Earth Skylanders were so ashamed and horrified that one of their own turned on them, that they went into seclusion for one year, returning after the year when Master Eon called them back.

"The bonds between Skylanders and their Portal Masters are still strong, despite that terrible time, but that terrible time is not forgotten."

Rachel looked at Jamie. "So that bonds can be formed again means the bonds between Portal Masters and Skylanders, so that we can fully trust each other," she said.

Jamie sighed. "Man, no wonder our friends wouldn't tell us," he said.

She nodded. "They weren't being cowards; they just didn't want to remember the pain of betrayal."

Both cousins looked away and Rachel was upset now that she knew the truth. She then stood up. "I could use a good run," she said to Jamie. "How about you?"

He nodded and they headed off, running in one direction and not stopping for a while. By the time they did stop to catch their breath, they were in the Undead Realm. Rachel looked up and saw a familiar home up ahead. "Hey, that's Rattle Shake's place," she said.

Jamie looked up at her. "I remember him," he said. "But I'm terrified of snakes."

"Me too," she said. "But I trust Rattle Shake."

The boy nodded and they went up to the door, knocking on it. Rattle Shake opened the door and blinked in surprise. "Hello, Portal Masters," he said. "I wasn't expecting you."

"Sorry about that," said Rachel. "Can we talk to you?"

The snake nodded and let them in. "I made some mint tea," he said. "Care for some?"

The cousins nodded and thanked him as they sat down. Rattle Shake set out three cups of tea. "What's troubling you two?" he asked.

Rachel looked at him and told him what she had discovered and Jamie told him what the Knuckleheads had told them and that they had found books in the Archives below the library that coincided with what they had learned on Know-It-All Island.

The Undead Skylander listened and looked at the picture Rachel had. "I remember that time," he said. "It was awful."

He then looked at Rachel. "No one knew you were Claudia's niece since you strongly resemble your father and your mother."

"How do you know I resemble my father?" she asked.

Rattle Shake smiled. "Your uncle, Joseph, was my Portal Master long ago," he said. "When his father got sick, Joseph left on good terms to go take care of him. Around the time he passed, your father became ill and Joseph took you in and helped his brother until he passed away. Joseph came back one time after to tell us the news and to explain that he'd be raising you, Rachel. Master Eon agreed that raising you was important and allowed Joseph to retire from his position as a Portal Master, but he's always welcomed to visit anytime."

Rachel was surprised. "I remember when he gave me the portals," she said. "He told me it would be an adventure I wouldn't forget."

Jamie looked at her. "He passed on being a Portal Master to you," he said and Rachel nodded in agreement.

Rattle Shake nodded too. "Yes," he said. "How is Joseph? I do miss doing missions together with him."

"He's fine," said Rachel. "Can he still come back to Skylands?"

"He sure can," said the Undead Skylander. "Do you think you can convince him to visit an old friend?"

Rachel nodded and stood up. "Thanks, Rattle Shake," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, thanks," said Jamie. "For listening and all."

"No problem," he said, accepting hugs from them.

Rachel playfully pulled his hat down over his eyes and he straightened his hat with a smile. "I'll bring Uncle Joe to the Academy later," she promised. "Right now, Jamie and I need to get back before a search party is sent out to find us."

Rattle Shake chuckled and waved goodbye as the cousins waved goodbye to him and took off for Skylanders Academy.

* * *

 **Well, now they know the truth. What happens next? Read on!**

 **GoldGuardian2418**


	4. Resolution

**Chapter 4: Resolution**

Cali and Mags were searching Flynn's ship worriedly. "They're not here!" Cali called out.

Flynn was worried. "But they were on my ship when we came back from Know-It-All Island," he said. "Are you sure they're not hiding in the cabins?"

"As sure as Kaos is evil," said Mags, who came out. "One of the cannon doors was opened though. Seems like they jumped out before you landed, Flynn."

Head Rush saw someone coming from the side and turned her head. "There they are!" she called out and they saw Rachel and Jamie running up to them, stopping near them to catch their breath.

"Are you two okay!?" asked Flynn worriedly.

"Yeah," said Rachel with a nod before Krypt King turned and grabbed her shoulders firmly.

"Do you know how worried we were!?" he asked sharply.

Enigma was about to scold Jamie for going off without telling him where he was going when he saw Jamie look over at Rachel, who was listening to King scold her for worrying them. The young boy quickly moved between his cousin and the Undead Skylander. "She needed to know," he said quietly.

That sentence made King stop in mid-sentence and they were all quiet until Master Eon showed up. Rachel looked up at him. "I'm sorry," she said. "I was so upset that no one would tell me the truth that I didn't stop to think why you all weren't telling me."

She sighed. "None of you are cowards; you just didn't want to remember the betrayal and I don't blame any of you."

Master Eon gently shook his head. "I'm afraid some of the blame is mine," he said. "I knew you were related to Claudia, Rachel, and I should have told you long ago, when you first came to Skylands."

Enigma placed a gentle hand on Rachel's shoulder. "But sometimes, it is better to leave the past and embrace the future," he said gently. "The truth can hurt even more than betrayal."

She nodded. "I should have listened to you all," she said.

Cali came up. "Someone wants to see you in the Main Hall, Rach," she said and led the way. Rachel followed her and entered the Main Hall where she saw someone up ahead coming towards her. She instantly recognized him.

"Doom Stone?" she asked.

The armored Earth Skylander stood before her. "Hello, Rachel," he said with a gentle smile. "I was Claudia's partner long ago, before she betrayed us and Kaos destroyed her."

Rachel immediately hugged the knight, who hugged her back. "I know it still hurts, even though it's been many years," she said. "I'm sorry."

Doom Stone gently shook his head. "You're not responsible for your aunt's actions," he said. "You've proven yourself to be a great Portal Master, one that I'd gladly partner with any day on a mission."

Rachel smiled. "Thanks," she said. "Can you tell the others I'll be right back?"

"Where you headed?" he asked.

She smiled. "To bring an old friend of yours," she said and teleported out of Skylanders Academy, landing back in her room. "Uncle Joseph?" she called out.

"Out here," he called and she found him outside putting the box she had found in the attic in the burn barrel, ready to burn it. She didn't blame him and took the picture she had, out of her pocket and put it in the barrel too, watching as her uncle lighted the match and the items burned slowly. She hugged him.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Joe," she said. "I didn't know it was a bad memory, but I do now."

He hugged her. "I should have told you," he said. "But I didn't want to speak ill of her, as she is gone."

Rachel nodded and saw the fire had done its work and she looked up at her uncle. "There's someone who wants to see you," she said as they entered her room and her Traptanium Portal was glowing. Joseph was stunned, but followed her to Skylands where Rattle Shake and Doom Stone were with the others.

Master Eon smiled. "Welcome back, Joseph," he said warmly.

Rattle Shake shook his friend's hand. "Good to have you back, Joe," he said.

Joseph smiled. "I'm glad to be back," he said. "It's been too long."

For the rest of the day, they all hung out together, telling stories and deciding to let the past be where it was and embrace the upcoming future instead.

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 **Please leave a review, but no flames!**

 **GoldGuardian2418**


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